The school is named after Lord William Howard, who was the third son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. He married Elizabeth, the daughter and co-heiress of William, Lord Dacre, from whom the Naworth Castle branch of the Howard Family is descended. A Grade II monument of William Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, is positioned on one of the highest hills to one side of the town of Brampton, known as the Mote. The school used to be known as the Irthing Valley Secondary Modern School, and was built between 1949 and 1953. It merged with another school in Brampton called the White House Grammar School situated on Main Street, in 1980 when comprehensive education replaced the selective education system. The ex-BBC newsreader Anna Ford was a head girl of White House Grammar School in 1961. More recently, the school had to be expanded after the closure of Lochinvar school in Longtown in 2008. A new Performing Arts block was built in 2010, allowing the old Drama suite to be extensively refurbished to become the new 6th form centre, which was officially opened by Radio 1 DJ Greg James on 10 May 2011. The school used to have an outdoor swimming pool, but the block which is currently the 6th form centre was built on the site of the pool in the 1990s. William Howard School was awarded Specialist Science status in 2004, Leading Edge status in 2005 and the in 2007. The school converted to become an academy in August 2011. It retained its own sixth form centre after some argument over a proposed merger with a larger CarlisleSixth Form Centre. In October 2014 it was announced that William Howard School will become the sponsor of the new Workington Academy in Workington in September 2015. The resulting multi-academy trust was called the Cumbrian Education Trust; it accepted responsibility for Whitehaven Academy and six primary schools.
The school today
Currently, the school has approximately 1600 pupils. The school has moderately well equipped and up-to-date facilities in every department; there are modern science laboratories, computer rooms, and a learning resources centre. It has a gym and a full size floodlit all-weather pitch. The school is very proud of its links with a partner school in Tanzania. After school hours the school serves as a centre for adult education, theatrical and music performances, clubs and community meetings. The large open foyer frequently serves as a gallery space for local artists. The school is also host to Brampton Live every summer, an ever-growing music festival that has, since its first appearance in 1995, become the largest roots/world music festival in the North of England. Major artists appearing in previous years have included the Levellers, the Waterboys, Egudo Embako, Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III, Altan, Tommy Emmanuel, and The Bills.
Tanzanian Link
Founded in 1989, the William Howard School - Uru Secondary School link has been, and continues to be, a great asset to both the Uru and Brampton communities. The rural village of Uru is located in the Moshi district of Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania. About 8 miles from Moshi, the village itself is on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. The Uru Secondary School is a co-ed church school with about 400 students in Forms 1 to 4. The Link was formed in 1987 when the coordinator, Phil Furneaux, met the Chair of Uru School Governors at an Energy Conference in Cumbria. At first WHS sent textbooks and other gifts to Uru. The first exchange took place in 1989 when a group of 13 students from WHS went to Uru. Since then there has been an exchange visit each way every other year except in 2002 when the visit was postponed due to a terrorist threat. A few Uru students come to study in the sixth form at WHS on long term visits, and a number of WHS students go to teach English at Uru School during their gap years.
Sport
The school regularly competes at local level within Cumbria and has a history of schoolboy level FA Cup runs. Facilities include a fitness suite and also an astroturf pitch. On the astroturf is run Carlisle and Brampton Six a Side League. There are currently 39 teams playing in 5 divisions. Fixtures are generally played on astroturf on Tuesdays and Friday nights. In the 3 Tuesday leagues the two lowest placed teams are relegated to the division below. The two highest placed teams are promoted. Teams play each other 3 times in a season.
''theReview''
theReview is a Sixth Form Student newspaper that was relaunched after a 2-year hiatus, in September 2012. The publication is completely and independently managed by students, all aged 16 to 17.
''Young Enterprise''
The school has been a strong supporter of the Young Enterprise charity. It teaches young people about business through practical methods. Students have to set up their own company, create a product, and sell it. They also have to write a detailed report of the company, as well as set up two trade stands in Carlisle, and present their findings to a panel of judges at Carlisle Racecourse in March. If the company is successful, they could eventually compete against companies from around Europe.
2007-08: ''KLANG''
The 2007/2008 Young Enterprise team that was entered was called KLANG. They won the award for the best presentation at the North West finals evening, at the Carlisle Racecourse on 19 March 2008.
2011-12: ''ReGenerate''
The 2011/2012 Young Enterprise team was called ReGenerate and was concerned with recycling, among other activities. They ran a vinyl-to-CD transfer service and produced a Year Six's Guide to Secondary School which was distributed to over 100 students in the local area. They won the award for Marketing.
2012-13: ''Aethia''
The 2012/2013 Young Enterprise team that entered was called Aethia. Aethia is also the parent company to their clothing brand Aethia Apparel, whose "#Massive" T-shirt designs have proved very popular in schools all around the area as well as their "#Shred"' t-shirts earning a contract with Carlisle Ski Slope. The team then directed their attention to the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as an innovative way to market business. In the Young Enterprise induction day in Carlisle, the William Howard School team won the award for best presentation. At the presentations evening, William Howard School won the special achievement award for being the most improved team from the start to the end. The team also narrowly missed out on progressing to the county finals, finishing closely behind Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in 3rd place.
